


Under the Apple Tree

by EliseCY



Category: Reylo - Fandom, Star Wars, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Autumn, Ben Solo - Freeform, College Student Ben Solo, College Student Rey (Star Wars), F/M, Fall Reylo AU, Fluff, Kylo Ren - Freeform, Military Ben Solo, Mini Fic, Rey - Freeform, Reylo - Freeform, Reylo Fall AU, Reylo apple-picking, Reylo fluff, Soft Ben Solo, apple picking, college Ben Solo, college student rey, cute ben solo, fall fanfic, reylo au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:40:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26780797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EliseCY/pseuds/EliseCY
Summary: Rey reluctantly agrees to go on a blind date with a friend of a friend. Little does she know a handsome stranger in a black pea coat will be waiting for her under the apple tree.
Relationships: Finn/Rose Tico, Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey & Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 15
Kudos: 57
Collections: Reylo Readers & Writers - The Spooktacular Collection





	Under the Apple Tree

Part One

The air smells like warm apple pie as it bites the tip of Rey’s nose, and she wonders if one jacket was enough to wear out here. Growing up in a desert didn’t prepare her to live in a place like New Hampshire. She swears she can see her breath as she shoves her hands in her pockets and walks toward the entrance of the orchard. She tried on a ridiculous number of outfits, and Rose gave her so many options for coats, skirts, and tops that she finally resigned and let her friend pick the outfit for her. But now here she is, wondering if she should have chosen the outfit herself and opted for comfort. If she had, she probably wouldn’t be shivering right now.

Rey shrugs. _Oh well. She had good intentions. And the outfit does look good, I’ll give her that._ Rey smiles as she thinks of her friend and the way she beamed when Rey agreed to a blind date. She had been bugging Rey for months about going out.

“You study too much,” she told her one day back at their apartment. Rey was busy working at her desk when Rose burst in and plopped down on her bed. “You need to take a break every once in a while. Go out! Have some fun!” She sat up and turned to look Rey straight in the eye. “I mean it. You’ll go crazy being stuck in here all the time. It’s been two months since we got here and all you’ve done is study and work at the restaurant. Pleeeease just go on one date! Just one!”

Rey just shook her head and continued working on the designs for her engineering class. “You don’t have to keep a scholarship, Rose. If I mess up, I’ll be sent back to Arizona and be forced to work for Plutt my whole life.” She shuddered.

Rose pouted, her jet-black hair pooling down her shoulders as she slumped forward in mock distress. Rey suppressed a smile, but that just made Rose inch closer and pout even more. Finally, Rey dropped her pencil and looked at her friend, both annoyed and amused. “Fine,” she said, “But just one.” Rose’s face lit up and she let out a squeal.

“Rey! Ah! I can’t believe it! Okay…so now I need to find someone…”

Rey’s eyes widened. “What? You mean you didn’t even have someone in mind?”

The girl shrugged apologetically. “I didn’t think you’d agree.” Rey shook her head and picked her pencil up again, but before she could protest, Rose interjected. “But Finn told me that he met some cool guys in his ROTC program. I could ask him to find someone for you.” Rey opened her mouth to immediately object and call the whole thing off when Rose cut her off again. “There _will_ be someone,” she said, standing up and slowly backing out of the room, “and I will plan everything! Don’t you worry.” With that, Rose smiled another giddy smile and practically skipped out of the room and into her own. All Rey could do was sigh and hope Rose didn’t get too carried away in her plotting.

Now here she is, an Arizona girl left out in the cold in front of an apple orchard forty minutes from their apartment, with nerves biting at her stomach.

She takes a deep breath in and sighs.

 _I can do this. How hard can a blind date be? What’s the worst that could happen?_ She stops herself right there. _Okay. A lot of bad things could happen. Let’s not think about that. Umm…_

As she looks around, Rey finds a smile tugging at her lips. The trees around her shimmy in the wind, each one a slightly different color. Different shades of orange and yellow bleed into dark reds and crumpled browns. Some are even still the vibrant green they were when Rey fist arrived in Concord two months prior. She remembers that day well. She could never forget it. The first day she drove into the state was like peering into another world. The sight that rolled into view took her breath away. She had never seen so much green in her entire life. She never would have guessed a place on Earth could look so _alive_. It was even more beautiful than the pictures.

So, despite the drastic temperature difference between her old home in Tucson and here, Rey loves her new home. She’s glad she listened to Rose, who begged her to come back to her hometown with her. Rose had transferred to Rey’s high school when they started 9th grade. She wanted to spend more time with her father, since her parents were divorced, and Rey became a regular at the Tico household after that. She was even invited to Thanksgiving dinners, Christmas, and any other holiday they had an excuse to get together. Rose’s older sister would come visit from college from time to time too. Rey was always so grateful that Rose walked into her life; she gave her a home worth going to.

Now they’re here, and the more time passes the less skeptical Rey becomes about living somewhere so different from what she’s used to. It’s definitely growing on her. It doesn’t hurt that New England is so beautiful.

“Excuse me. What’s your name again, dear?” an old woman’s voice pierces through Rey’s reminiscing. The plump woman had the face of someone you’d want to be your grandmother, and white hair to match. She had kind eyes and glasses, and she was pretty much the type of person Rey’d expect to own an apple orchard. Someone down to Earth with warm, gentle eyes.

“Oh, it’s Rey,” she says, shifting her weight, still trying to keep warm.

The woman nods. “Ah. I thought so. There’s a gentleman here looking for you. He says his name is Ben.”

“Oh, okay.” Rey’s heart pounds in her chest. He’s here. What do I do?

The woman smiles and then turns around to call out, “You can come here, dear. She’s under this apple tree.” She gives Rey a wink. “Have fun out here. Holler if you need anything.”

“Thank you,” Rey says as the woman walks away, and as the last word tumbles out of her mouth, her heart nearly stops.

The man walking towards her is nothing like she’d expected. She isn’t even sure what she was expecting exactly (all Rose told her was that his name is Ben and he’s training to be in the military), but she knows she wasn’t expecting _him_. Standing well above six feet tall, the man approaching her is wrapped tightly in a black pea coat that probably costs more than Rey’s monthly salary, and his face is pinched in a distressed stare as he nods to the old woman passing by on his way over to Rey. His hair is even blacker than his coat and slightly curled as it hangs down his face. He swipes it back with one hand just before his eyes meet Rey’s. His solemn expression shifts. His eyes soften, and the lines that were just engraved between his brows disappears in an instant. His hand falls to his side after it finishes sliding through his hair. His pace slows as he watches her with a mouth now slightly open and eyes that take Rey’s breath away.

All the muscles tighten in her body. _Did I do something wrong? Why is he looking at me like that?_ The closer he gets, the clearer his features become, and Rey’s heart is suddenly about to burst through her chest. Finally, he reaches her. The two just look at each other for a moment, unsure what to say. Rey’s cheeks start to burn, and she wonders if she should have opted for the black dress and tights Rose had initially suggested, rather than the dark green top and plaid skirt she chose instead. She really just wanted to be comfortable, and the burgundy-colored coat that went with this ensemble looked thicker than the one that matched the black dress, so she opted for this one. Rose had suggested a matching, dark red lipstick, which Rey reluctantly agreed to, but now she’s wondering if it was a mistake because she keeps catching him glancing at her lips.

“Hi,” he says, finally breaking the silence, “I’m Ben. It’s nice to meet you.” His voice is smooth and deep, and Rey can’t help but whisper her reply.

“Rey,” she says, taking a hand out of her pocket to shake his, “The pleasure’s all mine.”

The corner of Ben’s mouth turns up in a smile as he takes her hand. The moment their fingers touch sends an electric shock buzzing through Rey’s body. His eyes look deeply into hers as their fingers remain close, but he frowns when her hand leaves his and goes back into the tiny pocket of her burgundy coat.

“Are you cold?” he asks, looking from her pockets to her eyes. She shakes her head, but her body’s still shivering. His frown remains and concern brings back the little lines between his eyebrows. “Here, you can have these mittens. I don’t need them anyway.” He takes out a pair of black mittens that could probably fit three of Rey’s hands inside. She suppresses a giggle as she takes them.

“Thank you, but I think they’re a little too big,” she says with a giggle. The smile on her face widens, and she can’t help but find his embarrassed expression cute as pink rises on his cheeks. “Besides, I have to be able to pick the apples, right?”

“Right,” he says, still blushing. She smiles and picks up a bucket at her feet.

“Did you get one of these?” she asks. He frowns again and shakes his head.

“No, I didn’t, but I can go get one.” He turns to leave, but she catches his arm.

“It’s okay,” she says with a smile, “We can share. Come on,” she gestures toward the trees. “Let’s go. I’m really excited.” He watches her in wonder as she scans the area. “Have you been here before?”

He shakes his head and swipes a hand through his hair again. “No, I, uh, I don’t get out much.”

She nods. “Same. Too much work. Too little time.”

“So, you’re working?” he asks, stepping closer to one of the trees ahead and looking up into its branches.

“Well, kind of. I work part-time at a restaurant in Concord. The bulk of my work is just homework for my degree.”

He nods as he plucks an apple from one of the trees. “Ah, yes. Engineering, right?”

Rey meets him under the tree and looks up at the bright red apples dotting the leafy green sky she now stood beneath. “Yup! And you’re training in the ROTC program, right?”

“Yeah,” he says, his hands curling around one of the apples and plucking it off the branch. He drops it in the bucket while she searches for one of her own. “My grandfather was a soldier, and he’s always been a big inspiration for me. I want to follow in his footsteps.”

Rey finds an apple and picks it. She scrunches her nose when she spots a spider walking along the stem. She drops it by the trunk and searches for a new one. “It must be hard trying to live up to someone else’s accomplishments.” He stops.

Rey watches his thoughtful expression and wonders if maybe she shouldn’t have said anything. But then he says, “It is, but it’s worth it. It pushes me to be who I need to be.”

Her eyebrows knit together. “Who do you need to be?” The moment the words move past her lips, she regrets them. _Why did I ask something like that? I have no business asking that._

But he just looks at her with another thoughtful expression. “I don’t really know.”

He plucks another apple from the tree, and Rey can’t stop the urge to wonder. _What’s hidden inside this man? There’s sorrow in his eyes…_

“Ben?” she asks. He perks up at the sound if his name on her lips. Her heart keeps racing.

“Yeah?”

She smiles. “There’s a really good one right above you.” She points to a large, red apple with four perfect little bumps at the bottom.

She nods. “Mmm. Good call.” He reaches up and picks it from the tree.

She can’t help but watch his every movement as he stretches and then bends down to place the apple with the others. He looks up at her with a smile. “Do you want to go to another tree?” he asks.

She returns his smile with a nod. “Let’s go.”


End file.
